Tomorrow night sees Gloucester travel to Kingston Park for a key clash against Newcastle Falcons who sit bottom in the Gallagher Premiership. A win is imperative for George Skivington’s side if they want to finish the season inside the play offs.
The Cherry and Whites currently sit sixth in the league and three points off the play off’s, with only two games to go it seems unlikely but it’s certainly not impossible, especially to Director of Rugby George Skivington who said:
“There’s still a chance, sport’s great like that. We’ve been honest about that as a group, we know there’s an outside chance. But, we also know the challenge of what’s in front of us on Friday night. It’s Newcastle’s last home game of the season and they’ve been getting better and better. I know their scoreline wasn’t flattering last weekend but their attack is a lot better than it was, they score lot’s of tries.”
Gloucester’s last game was at the Allianz Stadium against Harlequins for the Big Summer Kick Off where they lost 19-38 in a performance where they were outperformed in almost every segment of the pitch. Newcastle lost 75-28 to Saracens and will be determined to bounce back in front of their home crowd.
“Gutted isn’t a strong enough word for how we felt on Sunday, and Monday was a dark spot for us. As a director of rugby you came in and you could see how much everybody was hurting and if there is a silver lining from Saturday it’s the fact that the staff and players were absolutely gutted.”
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โ Gloucester Rugby ๐ (@gloucesterrugby) May 15, 2025
The #GallagherPrem run-in continues with a trip to the Toon. ๐
๐ฏ up for Knight.
๐ฅ First @premrugby start for Cotgreave.
๐ Albert returns from injury.#NEWvGLO | ๐ฆ ๐ pic.twitter.com/BijrbKBi0n
It’s a very different Gloucester side in comparison to who played Harlequins, it’s wholesale changes on the front row. Jack Cotgreave makes his first start for the club and Ciaran Knight makes his 100th appearance for The Cherry and Whites. Albert Tuisue also features in the squad for the first time since February after picking up an injury.
In other injury news, Max Llewellyn is still out injured for Gloucester, with recovery taking longer than Skivington had anticipated.
“He won’t be available this week either, it’s a bit slower than we’d hoped so it’s very frustrating.”
It’s all to play for under the lights in Newcastle on Friday, can The Cherry and Whites get one step closer to the play offs or can Newcastle pick up a win on their last home game of the season?
